SLC quietly brews major liquor overhaul

Quietly deliberating for nearly a year, Mayor Ralph Becker's inner circle is poised to soon unveil a substantial citywide liquor rule rewrite that could spell the end to the two-bar-per-block limit and bring pubs to neighborhood centers.

Salt Lake City's regulation revamp could pave the path for bars at 9th & 9th, 15th & 15th, the 1300 East University district, and perhaps, the commercial patch in the Avenues.

If adopted -- the Planning Commission and City Council could vote on retooled language this fall -- the overhaul would mark the biggest change in the business of serving alcohol since former Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. ushered the end to Utah's Byzantine private club law.

"It's really about trying to make it more rational," Becker's Economic Development Director Bob Farrington said Thursday about the rewrite of the capital's booze rules. "It seems to be consistent with what every other city is doing in promoting walkability and a mix of uses."